From Inside
by whack sparrow
Summary: Picks up right where TLG left off. Artemis is back. There has to be some catch, right? Moreover, Opal has cheated death as well and becomes a ghost. Her plan for revenge is possibly her most devious one yet and right at the center of it is Foaly. The plot is about to get deliciously twisted.
1. Learning the Ropes

**I've been meaning to write this fic for a loooong time and have a lot of neat ideas. This ain't my first rodeo but I'm not very good at it and I think I have commitment issues but what the hey. Let me know what you think.**

**I was originally looking to focus on Foaly, Caballine and Opal in this fic but once I started writing, I realized there is plenty of stuff I want to write about Artemis, Holly, Mulch and pretty much the whole gang anyhow, but the focal points for now are Artemis' resurrection and Opal's ghost. If those are sucky then tell me! :)**

* * *

Fowl Estate, 6 months after Techno-Crash

Foaly would never admit it, but he was enjoying being a horse. As a general rule the centaur didn't get out much, unless of course he was jogging with Caballine or scouting for a decent-sized area to let loose one of his 'crazy experiments' (in the words of Commander Kelp, a six-foot self-building mini replica of Mount Doom, complete with real lava, is neither permitted nor a good idea to be trying out on LEP premises. Boo.) and being above ground was just an added bonus. Simulated wind just didn't cut it, he found himself noticing. _Man, that should be on a t-shirt. _

He could hear Artemis' weakened gasps directly behind him; his friend was not used to riding even before the unexpected amnesia and Foaly could almost hear the previously piped nutrient liquid swishing around in his stomach and threatening to be ejected... lovely.

Artemis himself was delirious, shocked by the sudden return of all his nervous, motor and cognitive functions. He could hear a loud, constant drone in his ears, animated yet relentless. _Clearly my eardrums must be readjusting. _But he could hear the steady clop of hooves beating against the dirt easily enough - it turned out that this drone was the short elf-woman reciting some sort of story - but he couldn't understand; the words seemed to melt into each other and every so often would be punctuated with a short bark of Gnommish which only served to confuse him further. She was too excited, he mused, to note that he was having trouble processing language at the moment. His whole body felt like it had been submerged in thick fluid (which incidentally, it had) and lethargy had his arms and legs flopping around like a fish on the centaur's back. On top of everything, he had a migraine and each thud of hooves seem to puncture into his skull.

_Are these my friends?_

The giant who had hoisted him up earlier was walking alongside, his eyes darting around in the manner that animals do when checking for danger. Looking at him hurt his head more. Now something was stuck deep inside his brain, a maggot wedged underneath layers of neural matter, wriggling periodically and trying to prise its slimy body out... out!

He slumped forward on the horse - _centaur_ - as another wave of lethargy swept through his body. Out indeed, out like a light.

The air shimmered with residual energy. Near the area where Artemis' spirit had re-entered his body, invisible, a rabble of spirits had begun to congregate. You see, this would-be resurrection was not unnoticed in the spirit realm. In fact, it was quite a remarkable event to ghosts, seeing as the number one priority for most ghosts is not, as you might think, revenge, but rather just a chance at the life denied them.

Opal Koboi was not _most ghosts_. She wasn't most _anything_ really. When she discovered that her mortal coils had not all been severed, she was more than delighted. Oh, the fun she would have, the revenge she would enact, the people she would haunt! She couldn't care less about returning to her own corpse. This was about vengeance and then maybe just a bit of fun. Opal wasn't here to admire the spectacle, which itself was quite a bore, but rather to use all the magical energy in the air to strengthen her ghost form. Who knew, maybe she'd become so strong she could just smite everyone she knew - because everyone she knew, she hated.

She was very new to the whole 'ghost' thing, though. Learning to be a terrifying ghost is a long, arduous task (typically, poltergeists take around four months before being powerful enough to move their first object) and even with her fiery, vengeful nature, it was not something she could master easily, especially without experience.

So Opal floated silently, eavesdropping on the busybody ghosts in the area as they chattered excitedly. How had the corpse of the boy lasted so long without any apparent signs of wear and tear? The general opinion was that the boy wouldn't last very long. One specter mused that the boy's memories would be scrubbed clean, and he would be like a baby; not exactly a desirable existence.

She slid near the specter, a hulk of a thing with pink-tinged skin and a large blister on his neck - a hallmark of bubonic plague - which he scratched constantly. He seemed wise and experienced though, maybe she could somehow kill him, drink his essence and absorb his power. Or maybe he could just give her some advice, if she was feeling diplomatic... whatever.

"Excuse me?" She said sweetly. "I need some help. I just became a ghost and ... I don't understand anything..."

The specter looked around for a minute, then resumed picking at his blister and snorted haughtily. "Obviously."

She swallowed her indignance. "I ... what do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't seem to have figured out visibility yet. You are not a ghost, you are just a spirit."

She waited patiently.

After a minute, he sighed and let go of his blister. "At the moment, you are just a tethered spirit. You have unfinished business but you aren't strong enough to do anything."

"I tell you this because I take pity on new spirits like you. God knows how many ghosts I have helped in my time..." He paused and threw his head up to the heavens. "You hear that? I HELP people! Whenever this is over, I had _better_ get a seat reserved somewhere up there!"

Opal would have rolled her eyes if she had any. Not even Foaly could pull of theatrics like this.

"Name's Henry," the specter said, and held out a rotting hand as if expecting her to be able to shake it. "Right. Anyway. See, being a spirit is horribly boring. You can't do anything, can't talk to anyone down below..." he motioned to the ground, "and you are just stuck here, floating for eternity. Some have been stuck like that for years and years; I would personally rather be burning in Hell than stuck like that."

"You might think ghosts are transparent, but that isn't true. How do you think ghosts can move things? Ghosts are those of us who can manipulate our form at will, so when we want, we are invisible and undetectable... but if we want," he leaned over and plucked a leaf from a tree, "we can do things."

"Do things," Opal echoed. "Excellent. I think you will prove to be very helpful. Maybe I won't need to suck your essence from you after all!"

Henry shrugged noncommittally and resumed his scratching. "By all means, try, you wouldn't be the first."

* * *

Holly's apartment, Haven

Several hours later, Artemis came to in a dark, cramped room. His legs touched the edge of the bed he was sprawled on. His common sense told him that this was a fairy bed, and it was oddly comfortable. Moreover, his headache was gone. He creaked his eyes open slightly.

The room was small - or it appeared small because of the giant sitting in a chair next to the bed, reading a magazine. Somehow it struck him as odd - the seven feet of solid muscle didn't seem like the type to indulge in that kind of thing. Artemis pulled himself up with difficulty and sat back in the bed.

"I'm sorry, does that magazine say... '_Fingernail Care for Elves'_?"

Butler looked up, then shut the magazine hastily. "This was the only thing in the room." He gestured around him. "Welcome back to Haven."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, detecting the sullenness in Butler's tone. "You don't like it here?"

"No, I love it," Butler remarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "This place does wonders to my spine." He gestured to his current position, which was more or less a crouch. Butler was not a man that liked being confined into a small space, but indoors in Haven, there really wasn't much choice. He found himself missing the highrise ceilings of Dr. Argon's psych ward. The paintings were horrible, but at least he could breathe!

"I see," Artemis replied, and peered over at his own toes, which stuck out over the edge of the bed. "It doesn't seem to be much good for me, either. How long was I out?"

Butler checked his watch. "It's touching on 5 a.m, so looks like a full fourteen hours."

The door burst open to reveal a chirpy, loud and overall surprisingly happy elf. Normally, Holly was not a morning person, but today she felt more confident, somehow. Things were finally looking up. "Rise and shine, Mud Boy!"

Still bleary-eyed, he looked up at her, feeling a glimpse of recognition in his addled mind. A past memory flitted through his head - someone short, or indeed Short, dangerously pretty, fierce and loud. who called him _Mud Boy_ a lot. He rubbed his nose where he could feel ghost-bruises from where he was suddenly certain she'd punched him. "Holly?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, that's my name. Butler, did he... did he forget again?" She looked worriedly over at the man.

Butler shrugged. "I don't think so. He seems to remember Haven and fairies, in spite of the fact that he was asleep the entire time you were telling the story."

Artemis cleared his throat. "It makes me uncomfortable when you talk about me in third person, as if I'm not here."

Holly kneaded her eyes and sat down on the bed. "Artemis... how much exactly do you remember?"

He smiled tightly. "Some of it. I remember little snatches of things. Your name is Holly Short. You like punching things." He looked over at Butler. "Domovoi. You were my butler, I think. But I have a feeling that your job was more to do with protection, like a bodyguard." His eyes dropped pointedly to the Sig Sauer suspended in its holster.

Butler flinched at the use of his first name. "You usually just call me Butler."

Artemis frowned. "Well that's just rude."

"No, my surname is Butler."

"Oh."

A gesture from Holly. "Were you even listening when I told you the whole story?"

"I was feeling quite light-headed," admitted Artemis. "And the pony's - I mean, centaur's back was comfortable. I may have drifted off."

"Great." She sighed. "Probably wouldn't have helped anyway."

Butler's lip curled. "I'm more concerned that you don't remember Foaly, considering you just called him a _pony..."_

Artemis scratched his head. "Are we close?"

Holly nodded impassively. "That's one way of putting it. Your wedding was going to be in September. He was devastated."

He looked mortified for a moment before he realized she was pulling his leg. Then, humbly accepting that he had no suitable witty retort, he shrugged. "Alright. So what's the course of action?"

This was up to Butler, who shifted his position slightly so as to crush his other leg for a while. "After you rest up, we'll head to Foaly's. He needs to do some check-ups and we can decide what to do from there."

"I feel fine," Artemis reassured confidently as he planted his feet on the floor and stood. "Let's go straight to Foaly." However, as he took a wobbly step forward the world swam before his eyes and he fell flat on his face.

Holly winced and went to help him up. "Easy. cowboy," she warned, steadying him. "Take it easy."

"Looks like you're low on energy," Butler noted as the boy - or now, young man - flopped back onto the bed with a groan. "I'll go fix up something to eat."

"Get me something too!" called Holly as the giant left the room. "I'm starving."

As Artemis furiously examined the only thing in eyeshot, the ceiling, Holly risked a worried glance at her friend. Well, more like a stare. Six long months she had yearned to see that face. She had never mourned because she, even though she wouldn't admit it to herself, wouldn't have been able to deal with knowing Artemis was gone forever ... so she refused to believe it.

He looked strangely different, mostly through his expression. Gone was the overconfident, snarky resting face. Gone was the wiser face of the boy who knew what it was to live, to love, to lose. Now he just looked confused. It was still him, though, that she was sure of. Artemis was back.

A comfortable silence descended over them. To Holly, it felt like the quiet before the storm. She knew there was _so _much work ahead of them and had a feeling the next few weeks were going to be emotional, stressful and just plain irritating. But hey, it was worth it. She just hoped it wasn't going to be Atlantis Complex all over again.

"Holly?"

"Mhm?"

"Were we ever an item?"

All sappy sentiments forgotten, Holly spluttered and her fingers automatically curled into a fist (a reflex reaction she still had from college). "_What_?"

He reddened slightly. "I don't mean... I mean why are you really helping me this much? Letting me into your place and looking after me..."

She frowned. "I told you, Artemis. We're your friends. That's what friends do."

"I see." He contemplated this at length, then spoke slowly. "I guess I'm just not used to the concept."

"You are. You just don't remember," Holly corrected. "For now, relax. Respect my hospitality! And don't touch my stuff, or I'll shoot you."

Something told him she wasn't kidding.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please review, follow etc. because I really want to rev the engine on this story and nothing does that better than knowing people are reading it!**


	2. Shortcut

**Thanks for the reviews/follows. Lookin' good.**

Undetermined Haunted House

"Go away, Henry," Opal said crossly as she concentrated. "I've got it."

The dismal specter watched, unconvinced, as nothing happened in the air in front of him. "Right. You _got it._"

"Glad you agree," she murmured as she felt something tug at her ethereal gut, a feeling as if she were choking on something. Carefully, she focused on the feeling, feeding in energy little by little. This itself was a breakthrough, as she rediscovered the sense of feeling. "I feel something," she said mildly, "and it's not my untamed fury this time. I feel a physical sensation."

Henry's eye (singular, the other one seemed permanently shut and oozed ectoplasm) widened as he saw the air begin to shimmer. "Impossible," he breathed. It had taken him thirty years to achieve what he was witnessing in front of him.

First came a few translucent strands of Opal's hair. It was stringy, like it had been when she was alive, but also had a wispy, ghostly quality. Almost as if it were being sketched on a canvas, the rest of Opal's visage was filled in with the same eerie texture. Unsmiling lips knitted themselves together out of thin air along with a pair of eyes with blanched pupils. The materialization halted at her neck, however, as her brow creased in fatigue and her face lost some of its pallor.

More than surprised, Henry was irritated and very jealous, but he tried to hide it. "Are you crazy?"

"What?" Opal's lips hadn't moved, she was still talking ethereally.

"Never start with the face. Trust me, people always get it wrong. You have to start easy. I always advise to start with your left pinky." He waved a cankerous hand. "Much less risky."

Opal snorted, blowing a lock of hair out of her face. "Why shouldn't I start with my face? I am beautiful after all," she remarked. "Besides, it seems to have worked."

He frowned (gods, he was ugly) and crossed his arms. "I don't understand how you did it. That one step takes most people years to accomplish. You must be cheating somehow."

"No, I'm just very powerful," she asserted. Then her face clenched in an involuntary spasm. For a moment, instead of her face, Henry glimpsed a deadened skull and hollow eye sockets. Kinda spooky, even to a seasoned ghost like him.

"Ah," he muttered. "Black magic. That's gonna hurt."

Back to normal, Opal shuddered. "That was unpleasant."

"You bet."

"Will it happen often?"

He chewed his tongue. "I don't know. It's probably tainted your soul for a while."

"I can handle that," Opal mused, suddenly feeling very tired despite herself after all the spiritual exertion. "Do ghosts sleep?"

A pause. "Not while materialized. But you can rest in your ethereal form."

Her lip curled. "Excellent. Time for a nap, I think. Then the fun begins."

She waved him off without so much as a thank-you, but Henry was used to that, so he simply nodded and took his leave, scratching absently at a scab on his cheek.

"I'm coming, Foaly," she murmured subconsciously as she drifted off (quite literally). "Better watch your rump, pony-boy."

* * *

Haven

Pony-boy, at that moment, was seated at a café with a pretty lady opposite him. Very rarely did he forget how lucky he was to be married to Caballine, but she didn't like when he voiced this aloud because, as she asserted, it was kinda pathetic. Which it was.

"Sit still," Caballine snapped as he shifted slightly in his chair. She was opposite him in a quieter corner of the café, a drawing pad in front of her and a pencil perched expertly in her hand. She was very much an old-school artist and preferred the genuineness of using real materials to simply drawing on a holo-pad with a finger. "I can't do this if you keep moving around."

"Sorry," said a Foaly who was not sorry as he watched her expression. She bit her lip as she concentrated and her eye twitched with every stroke. "Hard to focus," he smirked.

"Yeah, this was your idea though, lover-boy," she deadpanned. "So look sharp and stay that way." As an artist, she enjoyed drawing, but had found it odd when Foaly requested a portrait in a café of all places. She'd suggested they go to her workplace and she do it professionally, but he'd refused, arguing that it was far more hip to have your portrait drawn at a café. She'd rolled her eyes but he'd cited that he wanted to put it up on his blog. When she asked who out of the four people (including herself) that ever checked his blog would want to see such a portrait, he had sulked for a full day until she finally gave in.

Foaly neutralized his expression. "Okay. But make it look sexy."

"I'll try," she grinned.

He pouted. "You're supposed to say something like, 'honey, you always look sexy'."

"M-hm." She clicked her tongue and erased a few extra lines off the sketch. "No pouting. So how did the resurrection go?"

"Pretty good actually. The clone seemed to absorb the soul fine enough and he seemed reasonably healthy, although he did faint within the first hour."

Caballine nodded and began shading in his hair, opting for a texture that showed each strand. "Any memory loss?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "Holly tells me he doesn't even remember my name, which kinda hurts. He remembers her and Butler."

She looked up. "C'mon, you know he can't choose what he remembers..."

"I know, but still," he said gloomily. "Guess I just didn't matter enough to his subconscious to stick around."

"Nonsense," she scoffed. "If he could choose what to remember like that, he wouldn't be forgetting anything. It's a random thing."

"I suppose," he replied, thankful for the reassurance he knew he could rely on Caballine for. "You know, he had to ride me. Like a horse."

Caballine arched an eyebrow, taking care to keep a straight face. "And?"

"And what?"

"Did you _like_ it?"

He scowled, then looked more thoughtful. "Well, it was different. But that's just 'cause I was outside."

She gave him a wistful look. "We really should find somewhere up on the surface. I hear there's woodland in the northern hemisphere that Mud Men haven't been in for centuries."

He nodded. "I know. I promise I'll look into it."

"Sounds good," she replied. Then, as she added the finishing touches to her sketch, she flashed him a knowing smile and a wink. "Let's finish up here and do some riding of our own."

Foaly blushed like a schoolgirl.

* * *

"I feel better," Artemis smiled. "I really do."

"You still gotta eat," Holly slurped through a mouthful of salty gruel. "Get your strength up. You won't last long otherwise."

He eyed the sludge with disdain. "It's not a military exercise. I should be fine."

Butler put his hands on his hips, adopting a 'mother hen' stance that he was not suited for, seeing as he was the size of a small tree and had rippling muscles. But body language was everything. He would have time to regret this later (or maybe he'd just forget it ever happened). "That took effort to cook," he stated.

Artemis pulled a face. "I just get the feeling I'm used to finer cuisine."

"Well this is fairy cuisine," Holly cut in. "You loved it before you lost your memory," she lied.

"I find that hard to im- mmph!" He was cut off as she promptly jammed a spoonful of mush into his mouth (whether she was trying to get him to eat or to shut up was unclear). With a defeated expression on his face, he pushed the mixture around his mouth for a second before swallowing. _Not all that bad._

After that first mouthful, he discovered how hungry he was and set to work on the rest of the bowl. "I'm not going to ask what is in this," he remarked. "But I assume it's nutritious."

"Obviously," Butler replied.

"So tell me more about Foaly," Artemis inquired.

"He's a centaur," Holly shrugged. "Don't forget that again. He's a genius like you. He's really paranoid."

"How is our relationship?" Artemis was finding it an interesting experience, having to learn how to act in front of people. It was like reading your life from a script and felt robotic and false.

"You've known him around the same amount of time as you've known me," she answered. "I'm pretty sure you hack each other's stuff all the time. You're both nerds."

"So like a rival?"

"Guess so. It's all a moot point if you ask me, though."

"Interesting," he mused. He felt a memory spring to the surface of his mind, like a buoyant object bobbing up from underwater...

_~~ A very smug looking centaur hologram shimmered into view and stared down at a frustrated Artemis, who was attempting to hack into Foaly's mainframe. Twelve year-old Artemis closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and looked up. "Hello."_

_"Hacking something?" Suppressed glee would be the wrong term to describe Foaly's expression. He was never much good at suppressing his emotions._

_"Indeed."_

_"Might wanna try a little harder."  
_

_Artemis allowed the right side of his mouth to curve slightly, the bottom lip dipping to let the tip of his right incisor show for half of his trademark 'vampire smile' that had struck fear into the hearts of many an opponent. "Be careful what you wish for, Foaly."_

_Foaly snorted, not so easily intimidated. He'd already seen all the movies. Nobody could pull a trickster on him. He winked theatrically, then turned off the hologram contact before one of them could sneeze or cough or otherwise interrupt the cinematic moment. _

_It took Artemis an exhausting four hours to finally crack the security, only to discover it was a red herring. He felt the unfamiliar feeling of admiration take root in his stomach as he stared at his laptop screen, which was full of Lord of the Rings blooper gifs and a text file that simply said 'gotcha, sucker'. Here was when he resolved not to underestimate Foaly, and here was when he found himself finally in company of a worthy intellect. It was refreshing._

_"Very well, Foaly," he muttered with a genuine smile, devoid of vampiric characteristics. "I'll try harder." ~~_

The present Artemis allowed himself a similar smile as the memory slotted itself into his mind, aiding his characterization of Foaly.

Surprisingly he found himself scraping the last of the gruel out of the bowl, just as Holly tapped him (none too lightly) on the arm.

"-ou there?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "I was just reliving a memory. It appears I do remember some things about Foaly."

"Good," said Butler carefully. "That means there's a lot of potential memory you can regain just by meeting people."

Artemis placed the spoon back into the bowl. "So my memories..." he began. "From what I understand, I've recently undergone some sort of amnesic episode and lost random chunks of my memory, so while I can still function as a human being and while I still remember my childhood among other things, I have forgotten a lot of what happened in the recent years of my life."

"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple," Holly sighed, still a little sour that she had babbled on the other day to an unconscious body. "To put things bluntly, you died six months ago. Foaly created your clone using some DNA we uh, acquired, and yesterday we went to your gravesite and your soul sorta just hopped back in."

Both Artemis' eyebrows now raised themselves to their full height. "That sounds ... plausible," he managed. His face worked. "Sounds very illegal too," he added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, you might want to keep it quiet for a bit down here in Haven."

"I suppose it's in my best interests," he replied dryly. "So why did you bring me back?"

Holly gave Butler an uneasy glance and he spoke. "You weren't supposed to die," he said simply. _And I felt guilty, as your protector, that I failed to protect you, _he added silently.

Artemis looked around him at the life that radiated throughout the room. "Well I'm certainly not complaining."

"Get some more rest. Holly, call Foaly and tell him we'll be there in a few hours."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Keep the reviews comin'**


	3. Paper, snow, a ghost!

**Thanks for the reviews folks. I agree Opal was a bit soft on Henry but I wasn't planning on including much of him anyway (very little if at all from now) unless people like him.**

* * *

Haven

"The Stick," Holly indicated with a flourish of her hand as they exited her apartment. "Public transport gone wild."

Artemis eyed the contraption. "It looks like a massive conveyor belt."

"That's because it is."

He gave one of the flimsy-looking passing sticks a cautious poke. "Seems efficient," he admitted. "But I doubt it's very safe."

Butler placed an arm on his shoulder but retracted it when his charge flinched slightly at the contact. "I agree," he said gravely. "Looks like we will have to walk. A pity."

"Wusses," Holly remarked, then hopped expertly onto the Stick. "Although I'm the only one who knows the way, so I suggest you follow me."

Of course, they had no choice but to follow. "Does this thing have brakes?" Artemis inquired with a gasp as he was whisked unceremoniously along the Stick the moment he grabbed on.

"Why would it need brakes?" She seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Never mind," he muttered as he glanced at Butler who was, for once, suffering more than Artemis due to his physique.

At length, however, Artemis found the balancing act got easier. Crouching down a little, gripping the stick tightly and knotting his limbs around it, he allowed his mind to relax a bit and took in the Haven scenery. It really was extraordinary for an underground city. The buildings utilized space efficiently, and yet seemed to carry a semblance of overground life. Vegetation was everywhere - trees, faux-earth and grass, none of which he would have expected to grow quite like this underground.

Instead of the permanent darkness you might expect in an underground city, the area was illuminated by the sun-strips on the roof, which emitted a perfect imitation of sunlight. Indeed, the city was an architectural wonder, right down to the colors in all the right places.

The Stick seemed to serve a purpose similar to canals, providing a simple, constant transport route all around the city. They passed diners, lowrise apartments, parks (which appeared more like wildlife preserves) and even what Holly said was her old college campus on the way to Foaly's place (which was quite a long way away).

"Amazing what you can build underground," Artemis observed. He wasn't impressed by a lot of things, but Haven was one of them.

Unfortunately, they were getting a lot of odd looks from the regular commute. Butler attracted the usual wide-eyed stares, children pointing at him from behind their mothers, but Artemis himself attracted his fair share of glares.

Butler offered a horrorstruck couple an amiable smile and wave before they stepped off at building that, unlike the apartments they had seen so far, had more semblance to a traditional house.

"Intruder alert," droned a robotic voice as they approached the front door. Then it continued in a less robotic voice. "Actually, they aren't intruders. Funny how that gets you every time, dude."

The doors swung open to admit them and they were all greeted with a puff of frigid, sweet-scented air.

"Purifier," continued the voice. "Looks like you're all clear."

A more familiar voice from the left as Foaly stepped into view, eyes cast upward. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Never stop talking?"

"You built me yourself, dude. I dunno, maybe you should as-"

A _click _as Foaly pressed a giant mute button mounted on the wall beside the entrance. "Sometimes I regret including him in the alarm system," he complained aloud as Holly gave him a customary high-five in greeting (his idea).

Foaly offered his hand to Artemis and Butler. Neither moved.

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging."

Artemis turned to Holly doubtfully. "Do I usually do this?"

"Nope."

Butler pulled Foaly into his one-armed hug that could crack ribs. "It feels like it's been years," he said dryly, "although it's barely been twenty-four hours."

"That's more like it," Foaly grinned.

He beckoned them through to a rectangular room that smelt faintly of elderberries. "Caballine's got this new scent thing going on. She put a different smell in every room. I don't much care for it," he lied as he inhaled deeply. "But you know."

On a table was strewn a number of things in a fashion that was reminiscent of Foaly's desk at the Operations Booth. "Working from home today," he explained.

"Working," Holly snorted as she casually toppled a centaur figurine that was _way _too detailed to be a paperweight off the desk.

"Working," he repeated in the most innocent voice he could muster. "Anyway, usually this is the point where Arty is sick after his ride on the Stick but you seem to be handling it pretty well," he resumed, "so I say we head over to the lab."

Artemis perked up immediately. If he had ears like a centaur, they would be up and alert. "You have a laboratory here?"

"M-hm," Foaly said brusquely as he escorted them through a narrow corridor. "Eyes shut for decontamination."

"Of course," Artemis whispered approvingly as he obliged. They were assaulted with more blasts of cool air, along with damp vapor that seemed to sink into their pores (which was the idea). Butler grimaced as a pressured jet from the ceiling hit him right on the skull, clearly not designed for people his size.

They descended some stairs before they found themselves in a large, bright, windowless chamber with various contraptions dotted around the place. It was a mess, but it was an interesting mess. A series of pods were situated at the end of the room, and it was these that Foaly directed Artemis towards. Holly and Butler took a seat at a neighboring bench,

"Chrysalis pods, I assume?" Artemis inquired as he examined one.

"Yep. I grew the clone in these pods with your DNA," Foaly replied proudly. "It was all wired up, you never even had to leave the pod. No need for bathroom breaks 'cause I only fed in the essentials. Pure vitamins, minerals and glucose, etc."

"Clever," Artemis admitted. "When did you start this?"

"Six months ago. I accelerated your growth by modifying your pituitary gland a bit, but it should be normal now."

"I assume I'm due a check-up then," Artemis nodded.

Foaly gestured towards an open-roofed chrysalis pod. "I modified one of the pods to serve that purpose. I'll wire you up. Oh, and sorry but you gotta strip."

He gritted his teeth. "I'll keep my underwear on."

"Please do," Foaly snickered, as Artemis began to gingerly remove his clothes, down to his gray briefs. "Hey, they're not red this time."

Eyeing Artemis' arms, Holly glanced at Butler questioningly. "I thought you said he started working out."

"I thought that too," Butler replied sadly.

Shivering in the cold lab, Artemis had to comment on this to preserve some of his dignity. "This body is a clone Foaly grew in a six month time period, so I doubt anything I did or didn't do before my untimely death would have any effect on it."

With that, he laid himself down in the pod and signaled to Foaly to attach the wires and get it over with. The pod had a slight incline so his legs were raised to a level slightly higher than his head, and he got a worrying view of his feet.

"I have six toes," he mumbled before the sedative in the wiring reached his bloodstream. "Good job, Foaly."

The centaur scratched his head as Artemis went unconscious. "I was hoping he wouldn't notice yet."

A shrug from Holly. "Big deal. So what now?"

"It's all automated. It should be done in a few hours so you got time to kill. I got work to do, but I was hoping that you would show Butler around the place and then we could work on the Council stuff later if there's time."

Holly pulled a face. "The Council are going to be a _bitch _about this."

"I still have to tell Trouble," Foaly sighed. "Be good to have him on our side at the inevitable tribunal."

Butler grunted. "Artemis loves tribunals."

"Self-representing isn't gonna go down well in a fairy court," Holly scowled. "Not with the whole Mud Man thing."

"I thought they got over that?"

"New jury," Foaly answered. "Who knows what makes them tick."

"Great."

They followed him out of the lab. "So where's the wife?" Holly asked. "Cab said she'd be here."

"Trouble wanted me to get her to draw out a couple of holograms," Foaly shrugged. "She said it's fine, she'll catch up with you later."

"It's odd that you refer to him as Trouble," Butler noted. "If you had called Commander Root _Julius_ I imagine he would smash one of your gadgets."

Foaly smiled fondly. "You wouldn't believe it, but I miss him breaking my stuff."

Holly nodded. "Besides, saying Commander Kelp just makes me think of the seaweed roast down at the diner."

"Now," The centaur said as they passed through the decontamination zone, "I know you probably don't wanna see the place. Being shown around is always boring, But your'e gonna want to see the dojo. Cab had it converted out of one of the back two rooms for her martial arts stuff."

Butler turned to Holly. "Show me the way."

As they left, Foaly traipsed back to his elderberry-scented recluse to, reluctantly, get back to work. There was so much to do ever since the techno-crash. Before all Opal's technology had gone ka-boom, he had been certain that it should all be eradicated and replaced with his own, a notion fueled by nothing but his burning pride. However, he was in two minds after it happened. _Everything _was gone. Security cameras, holoviewers, weaponry, electronic restraints, computers, computer _chips, _even the damn Stick.

Naturally, the pressure had fallen on Foaly. Suddenly he wasn't so happy with the weight placed on his shoulders, and he daresay he wouldn't have minded sharing it with Opal. Naturally, Foaly had to improvise with some aspects of the rebuilding project. As it was, at least half of all the LEP security cameras were currently playing feedback loops that he had designed for a rainy time like this. At the moment, he was going through the painful process of redoing the whole thing, organizing the camera views by location and adding a timer to each one.

He dragged his laptop off the table and sat down. The computing power of it could have easily been compressed into something the size of his fingernail, but Foaly maintained that at that size, it wouldn't be usable anyway, so he preferred his (modified) laptop, at least when he was working on-the-go.

He felt a strange chill come about him as he began categorizing. The window was closed, so it must've been a draft.

But, man, it was _cold. _He shivered and as he did, it seemed that his laptop screen did the same.

"Okay, maybe laptops aren't that great," he muttered, batting the back of the computer with his hand. It abruptly lost all color, then went black. "Oops."

He sighed, his breath a warm plume in the air, which had suddenly turned misty, clinging to his skin. _What?__  
_

"Dude?" he asked aloud, addressing his car-AI-turned-alarm-system that he had so rudely muted earlier. He called it 'dude' for lack of a better name. Obviously Dude was messing with him. "Dude, stop." He cringed at how that sounded. _It's like I'm back in college._

The lights began to dim, then flicker alarmingly. Foaly didn't have a high threshold for fear, and was beginning to feel spooked. "Hey hey, I'm sorry about the mute thing. I had guests, y'know. But come on, I have work to do."

Now the lights were out, plunging the room into darkness apart from a slight gloom coming in from outside. Foaly was pretty scared now, he would admit, since there wasn't anyone around to act brave near.

Maybe there was something wrong with his electrical system, he mused, although he knew that was impossible. There was _never _a problem with anything he designed in his house, and that wasn't just a boast.

But hey. What else could it be?

As if to answer this unspoken query, a glow began to form in the chair opposite him, behind the other side of the table. It was a mild, grayish fog that he could only make out because the rest of the room was so unnaturally dark. He felt the chill on his skin break through and start to slow his blood, caress his bones.

It had a vague humanoid figure, he realized with a jolt. He was looking at some sort of hologram.

Or ... apparition. Holograms didn't make you freeze.

Stringy wisps of hair began to uncurl out of nowhere, dropping damply and haphazardly, making his skin crawl. There was a familiarity here, though. He knew that hair. Next came the eyes, and that was when the realization took root in his mind.

"Foaly," came a voice from the apparition, which still didn't have a mouth, he thought numbly.

Saying it confirmed it in his mind. "Opal," he breathed.

Last of all came the mouth, lips curled. Foaly's own lips were pressed together so tight his face ached. "That's right. I'm back."

And then she was gone.

* * *

**Thanks for reading !**


	4. That's the spirit

Foaly's place, Haven

It was all rather dreamlike.

Afterwards, he made three cups of real coffee (sim-coffee just wouldn't cut it) and cantered over to tell Holly and Butler, but as he reached there, the whole thing started to sound a lot less _dramatic horror _and a lot more _wow, he must have been seriously high _(which referred to the vertigo that many centaurs seemed to share, leading them to occasionally hallucinate when looking down from a great height). _  
_

"I made coffee," he said slightly shakily as he entered the dojo where Butler was sparring with an invisible Holly.

Butler turned, relaxing his stance and Holly shimmered back into view, panting slightly. They both took the coffee gratefully. "Better not be any of that sim crap," Holly warned.

"It's natural," he assured. "You know how Caballine is about that stuff."

"Good thing too."

He took a long drag from his own cup. "So," he tried casually. "You guys notice anything weird?"

Butler folded his arms quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Like, just now. Well, more like about ten minutes ago."

"No," he stated simply.

"Why do you ask?" Holly questioned.

He shrugged, a little half-movement of his shoulders that made him feel stupid. "I, uh, nothing. It was a bit cold and I think I fell asleep."

She shot him a grin. "Wow, look at you with your work ethic."

"You didn't feel cold?" He ventured after a scowl.

"Maybe you accidentally stepped outside," she said innocently. "It was bound to happen sometime."

He cast her a withering glare, then turned on his hoof and clopped back to his room.

"Wow," Butler commented. "He just turned the other cheek."

"Tell me about it. Looks like he saw a ghost." She rolled her eyes. "Ready for round 2?"

* * *

"Incoming call, broseph. It's the boss."

Foaly tried to shut his ears to his now-unmuted house AI to no avail.

"Alright," he sighed. "Hit me." He pressed an answer button on the wall behind him.

It was Trouble. "Foaly, you better have finished with the camera feeds by now."

Foaly was glad this wasn't a video call. "Not even a hello, Commander Kelp?" _Butter up the sucker. Like a crumpet.__  
_

"You know where you can put your hello. I have footage I need to review. Urgently."

The centaur paled. "I'm sure we can arrange that."

"Uh-huh."

"So... can I get back to work now?"

_Click._

_"_Not very eloquent," Foaly remarked to nobody in particular.

"He loves you really," replied Dude.

Fingers poised above the mute button, Foaly relented. "Hey, did you uh, notice anything weird earlier?"

"Who, me?"

"Yeah, you. Were there any temperature fluctuations?" He kneaded his eyebrow. Why was he still pursuing this? It was a dream. He was just pretty stressed from all the work. _Which I still have to do, _he reminded himself morosely.

"Not that I know of."

_See? _Feeling better already, he flipped open his laptop and powered it up. It snapped straight to the work he had been doing, even more proof that he had simply fallen asleep on the job, which he did all the time at work _anyway. _"Alright, thanks," he said at length. "Now let me get to work."

Now he had some footage to fake for Trouble too. _Ugh. _

"Hey, dude, you got another call. It's the wife."

_Click._

"Hey, Cab," he said with a slightly relieved smile.

"Hey, honey. I'm all done with the holograms, although I suspect you might have to re-render them."

He gave a minute sigh at that. More work.

Minute or not, she caught it. "Something wrong?"

He knew he could be honest with her. It was either something that came with married life or something that came with Caballine, but he always felt she could understand his problems. Unlike in the movies, where the protagonist often hides their stress and inner turmoil (why exactly?), Foaly knew that confiding in his wife would take much of the weight off his shoulders and she was good at that. "Work," he ventured sullenly. "So much work."

He could hear her pout through the speakers. "Don't let it get to you."

"The techno crisis is catching up to me," he continued. "I knew it would sometime, but still... there's the camera feeds I screwed up a few months ago and-"

"You can handle it," she assured. "Come on, you've saved the _world. _Work stress is nothing."

A pause. "I am a hero," he admitted grudgingly.

"Oh, yes. _Absolutely. _Now let me hear that smile."

"I am smiling." He said, fighting to keep a straight face although the corners of his lips were curling.

"You're not. I can hear your smile when you talk."

He lost the fight and succumbed as he spoke. "Whatever. You can do the rendering yourself."

"Sure thing," she said back, and she was smiling too. "See ya."

_Click._

Smooching noises from the speaker. "You two are like teenagers."

"Don't make me mute you again," Foaly answered good-naturedly as he went back to his work with a renewed vigor, flicking a switch to play some Riverbend for good measure. And before long, he was singing.

* * *

Downstairs, Artemis was slumbering peacefully with a series of wires stuck in a lot of places which will not be disclosed, because are you really _that _curious?

Opal was over_joyed. _She'd come to Foaly's place to start off but this, this was simply too convenient. Instead of just Foaly, it was four for the price of fun, all under one roof. Like Foaly, she was a big movie buff. And she was directing a heck of a tragedy.

She casually invoked a piece of paper and pen to appear out of thing air, or rather, not the real objects but just her memories of them. _Time to write the script_.

_Scene. A scrawny boy lies, still as the dead, in the same pod from which he was painstakingly grown. It has a poetic irony about it, which he would probably appreciate if he wasn't on the receiving end of it. His breathing is erratic, heartbeat slowing until -_

_Quick, light footsteps descending the stairs. It's the elf woman, coming to check if everything's OK, since he should be waking up by now. _

_**Holly**: (coughing) _Damn decontamination_._

_She walks over to the chrysalis pod a little too quickly, noting that she can't see his chest rising and falling. That's because it isn't._

_**Holly**: _Artemis? Hey, wake up now.

_She checks the sedative reserve to see it is dry and has been for a while now. He should be awake. She shakes him roughly. _

_**Holly**: _Wake up, Mud Boy. You better not be playing a joke.

_She's shaking harder now. He should be awake. And gods, he should be breathing. He should be breathing!_

_**Holly**: (loudly, with her voicing echoing in the airtight chamber) _FOALY!

_The centaur descends promptly, still misty from decontamination__, dressed in his typical gray lab-coat._

_**Foaly**: (casually) _What's up? Blood pressure normal?

_**Foaly**: (noticing the look on her face) _Holly, what's -

_In reply, she shoves him towards the pod in a gesture that can only mean 'see-for-yourself'. He stumbles over._

_**Foaly**: _Gods. What the -

_He checks the pod frantically, yanks out some of the wires. Stares at the display, lets the flatline drown his ears._

_**Foaly**: (frantically) _No. No. How on Earth did this happen? It was a routine check-up. I don't understand._  
_

_**Holly**: (hysterically) _Routine check-up? Foaly, he's DEAD. He's not fucking breathing. You're the scientist, now you fix this mess-_  
_

_She's interrupted by the looming footsteps of Butler as he rushes down, alarmed by their outcry._

_**Butler**: _What's going on?_  
_

_**Foaly**: (nervously) _I... Butler, I'm sorry. I had no idea this would happen. I mean, there's no WAY-

_**Butler**: (dangerously quietly) _Artemis?

_**Butler**: (almost silently, acknowledging a fact) _He's dead.

_Holly gives the centaur a rough shove. Her voice has risen an octave. He crashes into the wall._

_**Holly**: (abruptly) _This is YOUR fault, Foaly.

_**Holly**: (angrily) _Your machine messed him up. He was fine. Routine check-up my ass, this is murder.

_**Foaly**: (mortified, near-speechless) _I ...

_All of a sudden, she draws on him. In another poetic flash of irony, the improved Neutrino he designed is pointed at his forehead. A shaking finger flicks the setting up._

_Butler flinches._

_**Butler**: _Holly, what are you doing?

_**Holly**: (madly, whirling to face him) _Don't you dare stick up for him. You owe Artemis that much.

_**Holly**: (squeezing her finger around the trigger) _Foaly, you fix him right now. You fix him right now, or I swear you won't live to see another day. Fuck my badge, I don't care anymore.

_**Foaly**: (tears streaming down his face) _I can't. He's ... he's - I don't know why -

_**Butler**: _Holly, NO!

_Just as Holly is about to succumb to the mad moment of grief, Butler grabs her hand and directs it safely upwards. The shot sinks harmlessly into the roof, but the smell of burning wafts in the air. The setting was flicked up to maximum. She drops the gun, horrified._

_**Butler**: _Holly, it isn't right. He doesn't know what this is. It isn't his fault.

_**Holly**: _But-

_**Butler**: (suppressing his own grief) _He's our friend. Just... let's leave for a while.

_Exeunt all except Foaly._

_He slides to the floor, his legs tangled underneath him as he sobs, looking hazily through the moisture at the body of his friend, who had trusted him to bring him back after the untimely death, who had hung on for six months on a hunch._

_After a long time, he has no tears left to cry and the ones on his cheeks are drying hard and uncomfortable. _

_**Foaly**: _It was all my fault.

_**Foaly**: (stricken with grief) _I'm sorry.

_He reaches for the gun..._

Opal giggled slightly as she punctuated the final ellipsis. Foaly, always playing the drama queen. That was one thing they had in common, she observed. Okay, maybe it woudn't play out QUITE like that.

But it would be equally entertaining and equally fitting. Foaly deserved things much worse then death. He deserved to live to see what it felt like to hate yourself. It must be a terrible thing, she mused. He would then feel regret. Regret was an emotion she rarely experienced, but when she did, it was so powerful it made her weak at the knees, and she was supposed to have a black soul.

She committed the script to memory, intending to re-read it later with a memory of a glass of her favorite wine. Then, she let it float into nothingness and descended towards Artemis, reaching not for his neck but for the machine he was attached to, upon which she would carry out some ... altercations. "Showtime."

She felt a small pang of regret as her fingers solidified near the wires. It was the strangest thing, but suddenly the idea of Foaly reaching for a gun to kill himself didn't seem like such an entertaining idea. _It's because I want him to live to suffer, _she confirmed to herself. _It's because he deserves so much worse. _But Opal was no fool. She could never lie to herself, she was simply too paranoid.

Annoyance flashed through her at the moment of weakness. _I have carried out the motions for this a thousand times over. What is different?__  
_

Annoyance was pushed out of the way, typically, by anger, as she got fed up with feeling sorry for people (it really isn't much fun) and got irritated instead. _Stupid. They killed me. They will all die._

But as she was about to begin the process, she felt herself dragged back.

It was Henry. "Wouldn't do that if I were you," he said snootily.

"Let go of me," she spat. "Unless you want to die painfully."

"I'm already dead."

"I'll swallow your soul," she warned, although it was an empty threat because she hadn't a clue _how. _

Henry let go tentatively. Smart fellow, ugly son of a bitch that he was. But he stood in her way. "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need your help, moron," she growled. "But if you get in my way-"

He interrupted her, something which _very _few people had ever done. "I do believe you are about to commit murder."

Contemptuously, she scoffed at him. "What are you, the ghost police?"

"Nope, but there's laws," he said, baring his disgusting teeth in a grimace. "The greatest sin of all, murder."

"I'm aware," she said dryly, although the idea still sounded a little weird to her, or more accurately, to who she used to be.

"Pain like you wouldn't imagine," he said gravely, not bothering with sentence structure. "If you do something like _this _as a soul, you are damned. Your soul will be ripped into pieces so jagged-"

"Do I look like I care?"

He raised his eyes to meet hers. "There's a hell, Opal, for the most terrible. I've seen it. You _don't _want to go there."

And for a moment, her confidence slipped.

"It's everything you hate. There's no hiding, you would suffer forever."_  
_

She swallowed. Something she very rarely thought about was staring her right in the face - the consequences, the reparations to be paid for her actions.

He continued. "If you love hellfire, hell would be the coldest ice. If you're a masochist, there's probably a cute puppies section too. My point," he gritted his teeth, "is you can't cheat the system. So I'm begging you. Think about what you do before you do it." And he stepped out of the way, watching her like he'd watched many spirits facing this choice before.

For a long minute, she stared him down defiantly, searching for signs of a lie, but she found none. Opal was a psychopath, but she wasn't stupid. She stepped away from the chrysalis with a sigh. She couldn't stand looking at his ugly face any longer anyway. "Fine, no murder," she said with her hands up, like she was promising not to wear shoes in the house, or something trivial like that. "But I'll find a way to cheat the system, Henry. Believe me."

And her grin unnerved him.

* * *

**The script is really angsty as a joke, not because i'm seventeen. **

**Thanks for reading and for the reviews. I loved the 'dude' guy from TLG, couldn't resist including him **


	5. Opal-tergeist

Foaly's Place, Haven

The check-up was done by the next day. Butler got the guest bedroom and Holly had meant to crash on the couch, but when Caballine returned, she led the elf into a room with a skylight and an earthen bed, which were really quite comfortable. There was something innately relaxing about sleeping on a bed of pure earth (minus the bugs of course, otherwise it would just be another day at Mulch's).

Caballine was the early riser and so it was she who stumbled upon a curious Artemis in the kitchen, examining several Foaly-patented appliances. Apparently he had let himself out of the chrysalis pod.

"Need any help?" she questioned as she approached the doorway.

Artemis jumped a little but regained his composure quickly. "You must be Foaly's wife," he stated, not unkindly but observationally.

"Caballine," she smiled and nodded. "We've met, but..."

"I don't remember," Artemis confirmed. "That seems to be happening a lot lately," he added. He extended a nervous hand.

She held her smile, thinking how typical of Artemis it would be to resolve everything with a businesslike handshake. Still the same, then. She shook it warmly. "You hungry?"

"Yes," he replied matter-of-factly. "There were no nutrient pumps in the chrysalis pod, so I believe it's been a long time since I last ate." He remembered his last meal with a grimace. "Although, on second thoughts..."

She'd already taken out a packet of something. "Oatmeal," she said reassuringly. "Your favorite." She remembered this from the visits Artemis had paid while recovering from Atlantis Complex. Orion had referred to her quite flatteringly as a beautiful mare.

He looked pleased. "If it's not any trouble."

"Make it a double," came a voice from behind as a yawning Holly sauntered in. "Hey, Cab."

"How was the bed?" Caballine inquired.

Holly merely gave an appreciative grunt in reply. She was often inarticulate in the morning, but Caballine had sussed what the different volumes of grunt meant by now.

"What are you doing outta the pod, anyway?" Holly mumbled at Artemis as she sat down at the counter, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"The check-up was finished," he explained. "The sedative reserve was dry, so I took the liberty of letting myself out."

She gave another grunt. "Whatever."

Soon they were all eating instant oatmeal out of wooden bowls, which Caballine chose because they added a distinct pine-flavor to the food, which she knew Holly would appreciate, although she wasn't sure so much about Artemis.

"Mhm," Holly paused after a mouthful. "Caballine, you gotta try my nettle tea. Do you have any nettles?"

The nettles were out back in the garden. Fairy gardens were more like mini-forests, full of whatever vegetation could be crammed into them. This one had berry-bushes, nettles, cress and quite a few trees besides other plants. It was a tradition that had been passed down ever since those first few years underground and had only evolved with time.

Artemis accepted the tea, which didn't taste like tea at _all, _but he drank it anyway because any warm drink was welcome in the morning, and it was a force of habit really. It felt familiar to him.

While Caballine and Holly started chatting, he excused himself and went to look for Foaly, intending to discuss the check-up and perhaps ask where he might freshen up. He felt in dire need of a warm shower.

Foaly was just waking up, frowning through the window at the morning mist outside. Swinging his hooves out of bed, he cantered out straight into Artemis (who was about to knock on the door).

"Oof," said Artemis.

"Hoof, actually," Foaly answered in a daze."Hey, what are you doing out of your pod?"

"I need a shower," Artemis admitted. "Don't worry, the check-up is finished. I powered down the chrysalis pod to save energy."

The centaur narrowed his eyes. "The pod was password-protected."

"I know." A smug smile.

"Whatever," Foaly snorted, trying not to sound impressed. "There's a shower in here," he added, pointing behind him. "I guess you can use it first."

"Another thing..." Artemis said at length. "I don't seem to have anything to wear."

He shouldn't have said that, he reflected as he emerged from the bathroom half an hour later in a faded Riverbend t-shirt and a pair of trousers that looked a little strange seeing as they were designed for a centaur's body. And he was trying not to think about the underwear.

Foaly wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Beautiful."

Artemis scowled.

"Aww, don't be like that. You're one of us now," Foaly grinned as he disappeared into the bathroom for his own shower. "Wait out there, I'll only be a few minutes."

Those few minutes were punctuated with some surprisingly melodious singing. What a lovely voice.

_Baby, your love keeps me afloat _

_When I think I'm just about to drown_

_In a sea of negative emotions_

_Sea of neg-a-tive emotions..._

_It's less sea, more of an ocean (ocean, yeah)_

_Sea of neg-a-tiiiive emotions_

Downstairs, Holly tried to block out the sound. "That song should be banned."

Caballine grinned and opened a drawer behind her, pulling out a pair of earbuds. "I'm prepared."

* * *

LEP Plaza, Haven

Today was not a work-from-home day. When he got to the Operations Booth, Foaly gave a sigh of what could be satisfaction. He was always so much more productive in the familiarity of the place, right from the tinfoil hat collection on the wall (fashionable, too) to the plasma tiles that he had kept as a memoir (besides, they were useful).

"Commander," he nodded brightly as he passed Trouble in the corridor. He was making it a point to avoid all sarcasm and witty remarks around the elf because, well, he was supposed to be buttering him up.

Trouble gave him a suspicious look. Foaly playing nice? Nuh-uh. "What did you do?" _  
_

"Me?" Foaly tried to look innocent. "Nothing."

"Sure," came the reply. "Well, you go on doing that."

"Yessir."

"Don't call me sir. Not when you want to get off the hook for something. We talked about this," Trouble sighed. "Look, whatever it is, I'll let it go."

Lucky day. Trouble must be pretty tired. "Thanks! It's nothing too big, just ... you know."

"I don't want to know right now."

They parted and Foaly entered his booth with a grateful look. "Miss me?" he asked some of the machines in the room.

Of course, they weren't programmed with AI or speech, so they didn't reply.

"I'm sorry," he crooned. "I won't do it again."

He sat on his swivel chair and gave it a couple of whirls like he always did, then powered up the computer, rubbing his hands. "Let's see if we can't get those cameras done in an hour now."

And he got to work, with a frown of concentration on his face. So absorbed was he that he didn't notice when the room got a little bit colder than it should have been. And when he did, he thought nothing of it.

As he always did, he flicked the switch on his wall-mounted music player and allowed himself to relax as his favorite music began to sound from the surround speakers embedded in the ceiling, floor and walls. However, shortly it turned itself off, something which made him sadder than it should have (one, because his equipment wasn't supposed to malfunction and two, why did the song have to stop right before the chorus?). He glanced at the switch, which was flicked back down. _Hm._

He reached over and flicked it back up with a shrug, and sure enough, a minute later it flicked back down. He heard it flick back down this time, not slowly, but abruptly as if something was actually _flicking _it.

He stared at it for a moment in the eerie silence. Then, deliberately, he flicked it back on and the chorus began to play again.

This time, he watched it out of the corner of his eye suspiciously. Before long, it turned back off.

"Okay buddy," Foaly said to the inanimate object, something he did often when he was irritated (actually, he talked to inanimate objects all the time). Distracted from his work now, he swivelled round and towards the music player. Almost as if in a showdown, he didn't move a muscle for several seconds, then turned it on as quick as he could, and kept his finger there.

"Someone must have messed with this thing," he said under his breath.

_Someone is messing with that thing,_ Opal giggled as she casually raised her hand and brought it down, knocking Foaly's hand away, bringing the switch to _off _and breaking it off the machine in one fluid movement. _Stupid Riverbend._

Foaly let out a gasp before he could help himself, and rubbed his hand which had suddenly gone numb, as if from frostbite. Hurriedly he stowed it in his armpit, trying to get it to warm up. "Something is definitely wrong."

He felt awkward and cold in the silence so he hummed the rest of the chorus to himself as he grimly accepted that there wasn't going to be any music and tried to put it behind him and get back to work, which was almost finished by the way. Then his printer started whirring and spat out a sheet of paper with a single sentence written on it - 'No more music.'

He took it in for a moment, then whispered tentatively. "Opal?"

No reaction. Disinterested, Opal had actually busied herself in examining his tinfoil hat collection. He caught it in the corner of his eye and whipped his head round as one of the hats lifted itself off the rack - a tinfoil fedora that he had experimented with and didn't like all that much, to be honest. It floated over and plonked itself on his head unceremoniously. Ironic, because he was feeling pretty damn paranoid right now and he felt like he had a reason!

_Smash. _Things were breaking now, like someone was angry. A photograph of him and his wife shattered itself onto the floor while the music player slipped casually off of its wall bracket. Foaly scrambled for some of the more expensive things and managed to grab a box of important hologram templates before an iris-cam model whacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

Something slapped him in the rump, and he turned round to see a broken piece of his control panel fall to the floor in a shower of sparks. This was quickly beginning to get dangerous. He gulped down his distress at the carnage and made a heroic effort for the door. Luckily, he made it just in time as the plasma tiles activated and a possibly fatal shock echoed through the floor.

Gasping for breath, he backed away from the office as the destruction continued, things flying around the place like a mini whirlwind had struck inside. The fedora had slipped off his head and was vaporized by a stray laser, singed to silver dust.

"Okay," he told himself. "Okay." He would go home and ... figure this out. He needed to talk to Holly, and Caballine and Artemis and, hell, the _ghostbusters_, apparently... because what the hell else could it be?

Chix Verbil was passing by when he saw the centaur out of his office. He grinned at Foaly, meaning to ask him if he wanted to grab lunch later, but his mouth froze as his eye caught the scene happening inside the office. Slowly, his lips shaped into a surprised 'o'.

"_Man."_

Feeling ill, Foaly turned his back and marched towards the exit, trying to appear casual.

* * *

Opal lounged back on Foaly's swivel chair, examining the scene around her with a degree of satisfaction she hadn't felt in _years. _Foaly's beloved workplace was permanently ruined; in fact, he'd probably lose his job too.

On the flip side, he'd probably caught onto what was going on by now, but then again, that was the whole point. See, now things were beginning to get interesting. She was powerful and she knew it. Who said she had to murder people to have fun?

Sighing with pleasure, she stood in the air and suddenly felt dizzy. A wave of nausea swept through her, quite literally, and she felt something rising in her throat. Before she knew it, she was vomiting violently. If anyone had happened to be watching the booth, they would have seen thick, black ectoplasm spewing out of nowhere and spattering itself all over the place, painting the walls quite a dismal color. It dried fast and faded from corporeality even faster.

If anyone was watching the booth, they might've seen her skull and empty eye sockets as they replaced her head momentarily and she was wracked in a spasm of pure agony so intense that she felt a ghost of a tear fluttering down her cheek after it passed. That's when she had her second pang of regret.

**Thanks for reading as always. btw the title for this story is really bad and in my defense I suck at titles, so if you have any title ideas I would love to hear them. **


	6. Help, I'm being haunted

**Hi!**

* * *

Foaly's place, Haven

"We _don't _come clean," Holly said firmly.

None of the others around the table disagreed.

"There's no way the Council would take our side. So we can just forget right about that straight away," she continued.

Artemis examined his fingernails. "I wonder if it's too late. After all, I think me and Butler struck quite a startling spectacle on the Stick the other day." There was a hint of accusation in his tone, his way of whining _we should've taken a cab. _

"Well, then we just lie."

"Why, Holly," he said in mock surprise. "Aren't you a police officer?"

She didn't dignify that with a response. In fact, she ignored it with a practiced fluidity. "We tell them you faked your death."

"Technically, he did," Butler rumbled.

"I don't see the advantage in faking one's death for six months," replied an unconvinced Artemis. "That's far too transparent."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "They won't look into it that much."

"It's a bad plan, because the moment _anyone _has the slightest idea to look into it, it all falls apart. To fake my own death, I'd need a motive. I don't know the first thing about myself," he added somewhat bitterly, "so I imagine I would have trouble improvising there. What's more, I'd need a reason to fake my death for six months. That escapes me too, funnily enough."

She felt the sudden urge to punch the smug smirk off his face, but suppressed it. "Big freakin' deal, so we set up a cover story if they even happen to ask for one. If they have no reason to believe something illegal happened, which they don't, then they won't. Not everyone's a genius like you or paranoid like Foaly."

"There is still the question of whether we might _have _to come clean," Butler interrupted gravely.

"What do you mean?"

"If Artemis' memories - or mind - are addled, then we might need professional help. Dr. Argon," he explained. "Or other facilities. We can't burn our bridges yet."

Artemis wanted to make an objection to being referred to in third person again, but he stopped at a meaningful look from Butler that said _I know, but now is not the time_. He was suddenly struck with a sense of familiarity as something anew stirred in his mind. Butler was a man of few words and fewer sentences, but Artemis got the sense that he communicated just as avidly without. Butler had the innate ability to condense the words into a look, one look, that told you all you needed to know.

_Because he was my bodyguard. _Of course, a trained man would have that characteristic, which undoubtedly came in handy at intimidating any enemies. It made sense.

A snort from Holly. "Like Argon will ask questions if you give him enough money to shut him up." Which was harsh, but true.

And Artemis didn't know if it was this obliviousness to an inside joke that everyone else seemed to get, or whether it was something that was going to happen eventually, but he suddenly felt like he knew so _little. _Something he was not used to. He realized - truly realized - that he was going to have trouble integrating himself into this life which he was apparently a part of. He felt very much like an intruder. He realized with a pang that he didn't remember his own mother's name - all that came to his mind was a woman lying sick on a bed.

It was Caballine who noticed he had gone rigid. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered. "I just..." _I'm not who you think I am._

The grub twisted in his head again. Quite the unwelcome appearance for such an ugly metaphor, he thought dimly through a haze of pain and dizziness. He couldn't remember when or how he ended up on the floor, or when two strong arms gripped him and carried him bodily out of the room and to the welcoming softness of a bed and pillow ...

* * *

"What is it?" Holly tried not to sound too disinterested as Foaly ushered her into the living room upon coming home. He looked frightened, yeah, but Foaly was paranoid and, well, a wuss. Him being scared wasn't exactly big news.

"This is bad," he shook his head. "Like, really bad."

"Can it wait? Kinda got other issues right now." She nodded her head upwards. "Artemis passed out again, so he's sleeping up there."

"Really?" He paused for a minute, resolving to go through the results of the check-up thoroughly.

"Mhm."

His mouth tightened as he remembered how close he had come to being plasma slush. "This is worse."

"Hit me."

He took a breath. "Okay. So, you know when Opal died?" Might as well get it over and done with. Foaly was not the _rip off the band-aid_ type but there was a first time for everything, right?

She nodded suspiciously.

"Well... I don't think she, uh... passed."

"In fact," he continued, calmer now, "I'm positive she's back."

Naturally, Holly scoffed. "Foaly, I watched her die. I saw the light leave her eyes, and it's been six months."

"That's not what I mean," he muttered. "She died, yeah, but ... she didn't _pass on_."

Holly had a feeling she knew what he was getting at, but it was a little too ridiculous for her liking. "I don't follow."

"Think spirits but kinda angry and a whole lot vengeful." He suddenly felt embarrassed. "Haunting."

Okay, this was some sort of lame prank. "Really, Foaly?"

"Really, what?"

"Don't you think you're crossing a line here? You don't pull jokes like this." She shook her head. "It's distasteful and actually kind of worrying."

He gritted his teeth. "Believe me, I wouldn't pull a joke like this. I'm being serious, Holly. I think," and suddenly it sounded so strange as he said it aloud, "I think Opal is haunting me."

They both jumped at a sudden peal of laughter from above - the ceiling speaker. The AI was unmuted again. "Dude, I knew it. I knew you were gonna crack someday... just, _man, _you went all out, didn't ya?"

Foaly slammed his hand into the mute button behind him without blinking an eye. He wasn't in the mood.

Holly's brow furrowed. "You're serious."

"It has to be her. I saw her yesterday." The words spilled out before he could stop himself. "She appeared while you and Butler were sparring and told me she was back. And then today, at work, she completely trashed the place." He realized he was saying too much too fast, sounding insane, but he didn't care because he had to get it out.

She shifted uncomfortably and gave him a look that made him feel like a child. "None of us have seen her, or anything suspicious, Foaly."

She didn't believe him. Or, worse, she believed him and thought he was nuts. "No - c'mon! You guys were busy, that's all. If you'd been in the same room you would have felt it too. Everything went cold and the power went out."

"Nothing happened to the power," she answered with disgusting sympathy. "Foaly, it's the work stress. It must have been a hallucination."

He spluttered for a moment, incredulous. "I - you..."

"Sorry, Caballine and I talk," she said guiltily. "But honestly, I think in this case it might have just been a bad dream." She shrugged.

And that was it. Stunned, he watched her leave to go upstairs. He was sure she would help - she after all knew how dangerous Opal could be. But evidently there were more pressing matters.

Huffing slightly, he went to look for Caballine, and then paused. Caballine would think the same, wouldn't she? She knew he was stressed with work, and she had no idea what Opal was like, what she could do. It was painfully obvious which case Caballine would believe - a haunted house or a stress-induced hallucination on a paranoid centaur. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, but that she cared, and she would believe that he believed it but would worry for his health and ... just, _ugh_, he felt like this time, he couldn't confide.

It wasn't a hallucination, was it? No, that would suggest that he was so out of it that he'd trashed his own treasured Operations Booth without being consciously aware of it, and why would he do that? _Except that demolishing your workplace could potentially be an understandable response to work stress_, and now he was worried. Was he losing it? Did he imagine everything?

He stamped a hoof in frustration, then went to go to the lab. Resisted the urge to say something dramatic to himself like ... '_nobody understands me!' _or _'I'm losing my mind', _but for once felt like that would be overdoing it.

The results from the check-up still maintained the theory he'd come to that morning - that there was nothing too out of the ordinary. All of Artemis' organs seemed to be functioning normally. His bloodstream showed predictable quantities of oxygen, carbon dioxide and glucose. No surge in lymphocytes. Evidently, however, Artemis was _not _entirely okay. While he was physically intact, this seemed to go beyond that.

Which brought on a whole new problem, really, because it meant starting from scratch. And he wasn't exactly in ship-shape condition himself, considering he'd almost been _killed _- well, maybe not quite that, but it was a frightening experience, and what's more, Holly didn't believe him and he couldn't tell Caballine, which left nobody to tell but Butler.

He was surprised when Butler believed him.

"Sometimes it's better to at least consider the worst-case scenario," the ex-bodyguard explained. "Especially where Opal Koboi is concerned," he added grimly.

"So ..." Foaly realized he hadn't a clue what to do. The cat was out of the bag, great. Now what? What did he expect to happen?

"However," Butler continued, "something doesn't add up. If it were Opal Koboi, we would surely be dead by now. Or rather, a long time ago."

Foaly shook his head. "She isn't like that. She would think up an elaborate, ironic plan." His mind flashed back to the other times she could have 'so easily' killed him. Where he always miraculously got away, so conveniently, because she didn't _do _things like that. Not her style to do it the surefire, simple way. _Almost like she doesn't want to do it at all. _Wait, why was he suddenly playing authority on Opal? "At least, that's what I think..."

Butler regarded Foaly and chose his next words carefully. "I wouldn't have thought it possible if not for the things I've witnessed with my own eyes." And they both knew he was referring not to the Danu fiasco, but to the fact that Artemis Fowl was returned after six long months of certain death. "So I hear you, Foaly. I'll be watching out."

And that wasn't all it took to reassure Foaly, but damn if it didn't help to have the combat vet on your side, right? "Thanks." He let out a breath. "Holly thinks I'm a nutcase, but what does she know," he joked. Then, more seriously. "I know what I saw."

Butler smiled. "Got it. So what's the word on Artemis?"

"He's fine," Foaly informed. "That's what I don't understand. Physically, he's in great condition, considering."

"So how do we figure it out?"

Foaly pouted. "There's not much more _I _can do, sadly, so I guess the next course of action would be No. 1. See if he can shed some light on the subject."_  
_

"I guess we'll be out of your hair then," Butler shrugged.

"Caballine won't be pleased," Foaly grinned. "She wanted _at least _one sparring session. I'm not exactly a competent opponent." He flexed an imaginary bicep muscle.

With a smile of his own, Butler pulled a small book out of his pocket, titled _'A History of the Nine Sticks'. _"At least I have some decent reading material."

* * *

**Just wondering, what would you like more focus on? Foaly and Opal or Artemis' recovery? I will include both because that's how I started the story out, but depending on how it goes I feel like I might phase the Artemis stuff down a bit because the Opal storyline is about to go ALL sorts of places and i fear the Artemis stuff might potentially become lackluster. Let me know.**

**Thank-you for reading and thanks in advance for the review that you are about to post (yeah, now you gotta post it)**


	7. House Arrest

Foaly's place, Haven

They'd left an hour ago.

Caballine told him not to go to work. Funny, because _she _went to work just fine. But she told him he needed a break. Man, everyone was treating him like he was fragile now.

So Foaly thought to exploit the obvious loophole and, once again, work from home. It wasn't that he _wanted _to work, but damn, he suddenly felt he had nothing else to do. It would be so much worse to just sit there doing nothing. Besides, the work wasn't going to do itself. Feeling no desire to listen to anything, he sighed, pulled out his laptop and turned it on.

Of course, he was interrupted before he could get started. And of course, it was his alarm system's persona, who had begun to annoy him far more than entertain him of late.

"Why do you keep unmuting?" he muttered.

"Auto-unmute, baby," came the reply. "You need me. Admit it."

Foaly was loathe to admit such a thing. "Do you want anything in particular?"

"Nope. But the boss does. Have fun, you crazy dude, you!"

_Click._

"Yes, Trouble?" He couldn't be bothered with being polite.

"I need something done urgently," Trouble replied in a tone that was far too casual to suggest _urgent_.

Foaly's ears perked up - a distraction. Perfect. "Lay it on me."

"Foaly, I really need you to take a few days off."

Immediately, the centaurs heart sank. And his ears drooped, to boot. He was quite the picture of disappointment. "Huh? What do you mean? C'mon, I'll get the booth cleaned up in no time. Promise. I _want _to get back to work for once, you can't deny me that."

"I understand you've been under stress lately. Look," and his voice was far too soft for a Commander; it was far more Trouble than Kelp all of a sudden, "I get it, there's been a lot of pressure lately. But honestly, you're the best techie we've got and clearly you need a break. Just take a few days off. There's no harm in that."

Foaly narrowed his eyes. "What the hell? Not you _too, _Trouble..."

"That's Commander Kelp to you." But it was an empty threat.

"Cut the crap, okay? I'm fine, I'm telling you. Wait..." he paused suspiciously, "you talked to Holly, didn't you? She put you up to this. There's no way otherwise."

Trouble tried to add an innocent, injured air to his voice, but somehow it still came out gung-ho. "What makes you think that?"

Feeling sick all of a sudden, Foaly smarted slightly. "Quit it. She doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm coming in now," he said firmly, fully intending to close the call right there to secure himself the upper hand.

However Trouble was more authoritative than that. "Foaly," he barked. "I am suspending you from further work for the next week. Suspended _with _pay, but if you come in against my orders that might just change. If you try and come in we'll just kick you back out anyway."

"What am I, a mental case? You know me, Trouble."

But Trouble had seen the state of the Operations Booth. Had suppressed his initial outrage, received the explanatory and worried phone call from none other than Holly Short and had understood (or thought he understood). He wanted to be a good Commander, after all, not a tyrant. Credit to him for trying to do the right thing, hm? "Just stay put. And that's an order."

Disgusted, Foaly slammed the _end-call _button and, in a fit of quite pathetic rage, threw his beloved laptop at the wall, where it crashed to the floor unceremoniously with a couple of scratches on the reinforced surface. He would regret that later. "Now I'm on house arrest," he muttered.

He felt the cold breeze descend upon him this time before it was even fully there. Fool me thrice? Not a chance. "Opal," he growled, and he felt she was listening because he could feel it now. Distinctly he could even see (or thought he saw...?) her outline hovering in front of him. She would never leave him alone, would she? Not even in death.

"I know you're there. Might as well show yourself." Truth was, he still wasn't so sure. Ghosts were a strange topic in fairy lore. While the general consensus was that, yes, spirits could remain, haunting was unheard of. That was a Mud Man thing. Fairy ghosts didn't - couldn't - haunt, mainly because of the 'entering dwellings uninvited' rule. As a result, seeing a ghost was not really something that happened often and the general public opinion that had developed was that they didn't exist (because if you don't see something, how can it exist? Yes, it was very ironic.)

And if Foaly was being a hundred percent honest to himself? He hadn't handled Opal's death all that well. He had resolved not to dwell over it because it gave him a headache when, after the initial euphoria passed, he realized she simply _was not. _He didn't suppose it was a healthy emotion to start missing your worst enemy but she was still a person. He had always had the sneaky suspicion that, underneath everything she had become, she was still who she once was. Maybe not suspicion, but hope... _whatever.__  
_

Foolish hope, huh?

She materialized in front of him, never one to pass up such an opportunity. She knew he knew. She might as well have this little conversation before diving (literally, she giggled) right into the next stage of her impromptu plan which seemed to be going so much _better _than the premeditated plans of her past. Improvising, as it turned out, was her forté.

He allowed himself to stare at her, because why not? She was a miracle of her own doing now, just as beautiful as she'd always been even in death, he noted bitterly and not quite consciously. She was casually seated, didn't even act like she was a damn _ghost _now although it was quite obviously written all over her face. That spooky _je ne sais quoi_ that would set a troll's teeth on edge, that if it were amplified could well send him crawling home to his mummy.

Always one for conversation with his sworn enemies (hey, it beats fighting for your life) Foaly raised a hand in a sarcastic wave and dared to make an equally sarcastic comment. "It's been a long time."

She yawned and stretched her arms which struck him as odd. Apparently ghosts got tired too. "Six months," she purred. "How's life?"

"Not bad," he quipped. Then he dropped the act. "Opal, what's going on now? What is this, your latest plan for world domination? I can't say I'm surprised."

"No. Can't you see?"

He frowned. "I can see fine. You've gone even further of the rails this time, and that's saying something!"

She shook her head. "No, Foaly. This is about _you._" She looked him right in the eyes.

He looked away. "I'm flattered. Honestly. But-"

She cut him off viciously. "Foaly, shut up. You have taken everything from me. You and your clique of world-saving baboons," and she spat out 'world-saving' like it was a laughable notion, "Being the villain was awful fun, but it's all over now." She shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

He wanted to point out that obviously she wasn't fine with it, but he thought better of it.

"So now," she continued neutrally, "I have nothing. Understood?"

"Killing me won't get it back," he whispered. Heroes weren't supposed to beg for their lives, but come on, let's be honest. Foaly was no hero. He wanted to live.

"I don't want to kill you! You're practically all I have left," she stated. "Besides," she added crossly, "I can't."

"Oh dear," he said, holding back a wild urge to giggle. "What a shame."

She regarded him irritably. "Never mind, moron. You'll find out soon enough what I'm doing. But I really ought to congratulate myself, because this is by far the best thing I have ever thought up." Modestly, she twisted a wisp of her hair around a finger. "And honey, it's _all _about you."_  
_

Then she was mist and Foaly's mouth was forced open by unseen hands, and the mist poured in, forcing itself down his throat and up his nose. He could feel his throat clamming up, but that was about _all _he could feel anymore.

"Huh," he wheezed, and then slumped forwards onto the floor, his eyes rolled back up into his head.

* * *

A Rocky Outcrop, Haven Outskirts

Butler eyed the short ceiling of the entrance with foreboding. "I have to crawl again, don't I?"

Holly hid a smile. "Sorry, big guy."

They had arrived at an shack somewhere isolated which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. They weren't even properly in Haven anymore, in fact. This was what you could call ... 'countryside'? Except it was a good deal rockier. No. 1 had chosen this as his humble abode on Qwan's request. Qwan was old-fashioned. Comfort, he claimed, was a warlock's bane. Well, comfort and raw meat. _  
_

And No. 1 simply had too much respect for the old warlock to turn him down. Besides, he thought he was beginning to warm up to the place (or maybe it was the giant magma pit a couple of miles down the path, who knew).

Dutifully, Butler got on all fours and followed the elf into the cave with as much dignity as he could muster. Artemis followed, stooping slightly and trying to ignore the sulfuric odor.

The demon popped up seemingly out of nowhere, right in Artemis' face. "Heya!"

He jumped, nearly hit the back of his head on a rock, then straightened his Riverbend t-shirt under his jacket and held out his hand. "Number One, I presume."

"That's me." The young demon swung from an overhead hammock. So that's where his face had come from. He shook Artemis' hand warmly. _At least he doesn't have horns, _Artemis thought wryly to himself. "I would give you a friendly hug, but I think that would make you uncomfortable."

"Oh dear," he observed as he turned to Butler, who was on his haunches. "I ought to fix that."

He waved a hand, and there was a harsh grating sound as rock shifted into other rock. And the ceiling was now Butler-sized. "Better?"_  
_

"Much," smiled Butler as he got to his feet looking relieved. "I wish you were around more often."

"Me too," No. 1 admitted. Then he cocked his head. "Although... if you happen to hear of a brand new volcano or unexplained mountain formation above ground, don't be alarmed."

"Volcanoes," Holly commented. "They're like mama magma chutes. One day I'm going to ride one," she said slightly dreamily.

"Alright. Anyone want a rock cake? I've been baking," the warlock said eagerly as he led them to a larger part of the cave which was much more homely, because there was a makeshift table and stools (all keeping up with the whole 'rock' theme). Light was supplied from a single dim strip from the ceiling.

They politely declined the rock cakes, which looked a little too rocky, and sat down on the stools.

"So," No.1 grinned. "To what do I owe the honour?"

Holly jerked a thumb at Artemis by way of explanation.

"Ah. Everything turn out okay?" No.1 knew about the ... arrangement regarding Artemis because Foaly couldn't bring himself to lie to him (besides, the centaur was sure he could read minds as well as fry them, so he wasn't taking any chances). "Any nightmares?"

"No," Artemis replied.

"Oh." No.1's face fell slightly. Great!

"It actually turned out pretty well," Butler supplied. "Foaly did a check-up with the chrysalis pod he grew the clone in, and physically, everything is as it should be. Mentally, however..."

"Foaly told me about the memory thing," No.1 said hastily. "I would be lying if I said it isn't out of the ordinary, but with this sort of thing there is no _ordinary. _I suspect you might be the first people to have tried it. Or at least in the top ten."

"Fantastic," Artemis murmured. "Do I get a medal?"

"At least his personality is okay, eh?" No.1 beamed in response.

Holly pulled a face. "Yeah, that's the one thing I didn't miss." Realized she'd said it aloud, reddened slightly, then shrugged inwardly. It was no secret that she missed him when he was gone.

Artemis surprised them by blurting out his own feelings. Maybe it had something to do with No.1's bubbly personality. "It's strange," he admitted. "On one side, I am Artemis Fowl. You people are my friends, and I can remember fragments of things of my past, like a game I once played with Foaly and what my mother looked like."

"But on the other hand... I feel I'm not exactly who you think I am. Or more accurately, who you want me to be. Most of what I know you've told me yourselves. I can't help but feel that had you not appeared when I woke up, I could have been someone completely different, which naturally brings me to wonder who the _real _me is."

"We know you," Holly replied automatically. "This _is _who you are. Hell, this was your idea in the first place." That was only half true.

He shook his head. "You only know who you have seen in this body. In fact," he mused, "this isn't even my real body. It's merely a likeness of it." He wiggled his sixth toe self-consciously.

"What is this, philosophy?" This from Holly, hands on hips, all _seriously, Mud Boy? _

"It does pose a curious philosophical dilemma," No.1 said thoughtfully.

She was having none of it. "Nothing curious about it. Artemis sacrificed himself with the intention of coming back. Six months later, his soul returns to a body that Foaly grew specifically with him in mind from his _own DNA_. It's straightforward, people. Black and white."

And in her own macho, no-nonsense manner, she managed to reassure Artemis a little bit. Funny how simply she eased his mind from a notion that had sent him reeling into unconsciousness last time he'd challenged it.

"Well," No.1 said decisively, "you did the right thing anyhow. I'm going to see what I can find out about souls and death in particular." He smiled cheerfully as if announcing a picnic. Which it actually was compared to the ideas most demons had of 'passing the time'. "It will take a while, but you brought him to the right place. I might even get Qwan around, he might be able to shed some light on this too."

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews. I agree, guest, I feel like this story does definitely need Artemis and after some plotting I realized there's plenty going on with him as well, so he'll be there! **

**I renamed this story and updated the summary, because both of them are rather lame. And recently I planned and jotted down the whole plot and felt I needed to update the story information because rather than a story in progress I have an ending and general synopsis envisioned now, so I can call it a fully fledged story. Woo!**

**P.S the new title may be cryptic but you'll get it later... heh heh.**


	8. Sleeper Cell

**Thanks for the support so far !**

Haven, One Week Later...

No.1 and Holly were hard at work. This involved two very different things for each of them. No.1's task was that of research and interpretation. His aim was to find everything possible about reanimation and spirits that he could. Only with the knowledge could he begin to piece together the puzzle that was Artemis Fowl's current condition. The young man himself, never one to pass up on research, had leafed through his fair share of dusty old tomes (that was always where people seemed to store important information - go figure) in the first couple of days, but such exertion escaped his ability now.

Artemis was getting worse.

The headaches flared only louder, the unconscious time periods only lengthened and memories flowed into him at an alarming rate. Not just his own memories, either. One terrifying day, he woke up in delirium begging to 'see his sixteen-year old daughter one last time before passing the veil'. Passing out after a headache could nowadays leave him in a coma-like state for hours on end, much to Butler and Holly's dismay and frustration.

Not all the information No.1 needed was ... freely available. That's where Holly came in. She was like the information bounty hunter. No.1 would give her a book's description and she'd go and fetch it (or at least a copy of it) from wherever it was with a flash of her LEP badge at the unfortunate person the book belonged to. She had to do plenty of detective work herself to track down some of the more elusive books, but there was always a paper trail.

Currently, Holly was tracking down a certain ancient scroll. Ancient scrolls were, apparently, just as fulfilling as dusty old tomes. She'd tracked the scroll down to an antiques collector who lived in quite a remote area. The house was huge. Of course it would be. With any luck she'd probably have to search a gigantic library full of identical scrolls and books... lovely._  
_

Steeling herself for something that was bound to be boring, she prepared to ring the bell when her earpiece buzzed. She wasn't on duty (well, not _officially_) so it was a personal call - as it turned out, Caballine.

"Hello?"

"Holly? Hi, it's me..."

"Cab, hey, I'm kinda busy right now, on duty..."

She was surprised to hear Caballine's voice break. "Y-yeah, okay, I guess I'll try again later."

Holly stepped back from the door for a moment. "Something wrong?"

"I...no, well, yes," there was a slight sob from Caballine. "But don't wo-"

"Duty can wait," Holly said firmly. "What's up?"

"No, this is - I mean, I'll tell you when you get back. It's about Foaly," she elaborated.

A chill went through Holly's spine. "Cab, he's okay, right?"

She got a heartbroken sob as a reply, which didn't exactly reassure her.

"Cab?"

"He's fine," Caballine said in a slightly injured voice. "But we broke up." A hiccup.

Holly's mouth dropped open. "You _what?_"

"He said ... he said he didn't love me anymore. He's seeing someone. He even admitted it. He's cutting the sash," came the tearful reply. 'Cutting the sash' referred to, well, divorce. Centaur divorces were traditionally not that much of a big deal because traditionally centaurs didn't mate for life. A female centaur (or rarely, the male) would signify the end of a relationship by cutting the sash that they'd tied when they got hitched. People were starting to think it was a strange tradition though, especially after a tragic incident between a couple involving a circular buzzsaw and eager handyman dwarf that resulted in a tearful parting of ways and a filly out of wedlock.

Mystified, Holly found herself at a loss for words. Foaly dumping someone in a relationship? _Really?_ "Are you sure it wasn't just a fight? When did this happen?"_  
_

Caballine pulled herself together with a huff and a sniff. "Yesterday, but I know he means it. I'm leaving today."

Once again, Holly was shocked. "You're leaving? Cab, that's your house just as much as it's his. Besides, it's probably just a fight. He'll get over it."

"No, Holly, I saw the emails." Her voice hardened. "And I don't care. I'm leaving. I have to get away if just for a while."

Holly sighed. "Where are you going?"

"My Mum's place in Atlantis."

"Cab, don't do anything rash."

"It's a bit late for that," Caballine replied sadly. "I'm all packed now and I've got the sash. I don't want to see his stupid face ever again." And the heartbreak was all too evident in her voice.

Before Caballine could hang up, Holly spoke urgently. "Wait! Listen, just call me later okay? We'll sort this out."

"OK. I'll call you from Atlantis."

"What? N-"

_Click._

_"_Fuck!" Holly exclaimed colorfully. She felt so furious, she didn't even bother dialing back. "Foaly..." she growled to herself. "I am going to _kick your ass_..."

"...but not now," she finished. Then she put her best stoic pretty-boy LEP officer look on, stepped towards the door and rung the bell loudly.

A grumbling from inside. Shortly, a balding elf in an ugly housecoat came to the door. "What do you want?" He demanded.

"LEP," she said smoothly.

"Yeah, and I'm with the Council," he barked with a disbelieving laugh.

She flipped open her badge. "Captain Holly Short, LEP," she repeated.

"Gimme that," he said as he snatched it and took a good look. Then, after a minute, he eyed her with scrutiny."They let chicks into the force?"

"Looks like it."

He tutted, which made Holly want to punch him in the face, but she settled instead for just gritting her teeth. "Things have changed so much around here..."

"Wasn't looking for your opinion," Holly shot back. Freakin' sexists.

He sighed. "What can I do for you?"

She tapped her foot impatiently. "We have reason to believe that an important manuscript is in your possession. Antique scroll dated around the year 200 AD."_  
_

He scratched a hairy chin. "I got tons of scrolls. I doubt any of 'em is dated that far back though. I'm more of an eighth century kinda guy." He said it proudly.

"I'm going to need to have a look," Holly said crisply.

He narrowed his eyes. "Lady, when I said tons, I mean _tons_. And they're all locked away. It'd take ages."

"Then you'd better hurry up and let me get started, right?" She didn't miss a beat.

He folded his arms. "You got a search warrant?"

"Don't need one."

He snorted. "That's bull right there. You aren't getting inside without a search warrant."

She gave him a dangerous look. "Sir, may I remind you that if you are obstructing police business, then I might just have to remove that obstruction?"

But he wasn't falling for it. "I ain't obstructing anything. You come back with a warrant and you can do your cop thing, but until then you can stay out. I'll sue," he warned. "God knows my lawyers need the practice."

She glared at him, knowing she had no choice but to back down, because Trouble would chew her out if she got the LEP sued while off duty. "Fine," she said at length. "I'll come back with the warrant, then I'll arrest you for obstruction." She smiled sweetly as he shut the door.

She turned on her heel, seething. "Was a total bitch getting here," she grumbled. Now she'd probably have to come clean with Trouble about the whole shebang just to get a chance at the damn scroll, and this was serious business. She'd probably have to offer him another date.

Now there was this Caballine stuff too. What the hell was up with Foaly? She severely doubted he could get another girl to talk to him for very long, let alone intrude on his married, committed relationship and cheat with him. Yet evidently that's what happened.

And underneath everything, she knew Artemis was fading. No.1 had to find something fast, and it damn well could be the manuscript. She didn't have _time_ to bank on winning Trouble over for this... she had to think of something else.

* * *

Foaly's place, Haven

Genius, Opal congratulated herself. It had only gone perfectly, after all. Caballine was out of the picture, probably forever, and good riddance too. What a bitch!

And she hadn't even had to do very much. A couple of fake emails here, a sincere phone call there and overall some of her best acting, and Caballine had simply up and left.

Her plan was turning out to be so much better than she had imagined. The premise was simple - possess Foaly and destroy them all from the inside out without getting her hands dirty. The execution itself was complicated, of course. It required her full attention at all times to avoid arousing suspicion. This time, nobody would even know what was going on until it had finished, and maybe not even then. That was the brilliance. She almost wished she'd died sooner... although she _did _miss some of the finer points of life. Wine, good movies... truffles... _sigh_.

She could watch good movies in Foaly's body but the centaur didn't have much of a taste for good wine (all the alcohol was simulated. Bleurgh!) and he tended to vomit whenever she tried eating a truffle. Of course the moron was allergic to chocolate. Clever clogs that he claimed to be, he didn't keep any anti-allergen pills around the place.

Also, she seemed to have developed an unnerving craving for carrot.

Four legs were strange getting accustomed too initially. She practiced at first by going for walks in the late hours of the night, finding that her tail played a surprisingly large part in balance (especially when cantering).

She kept conversation with other people to a minimum in order to minimize suspicion. She knew what Foaly was like, though, so she felt she played his part reasonably well. _He should be honored really._

Now Caballine was out of the picture, she thought she would work on Holly. The endgame was to isolate everyone from Foaly's life, to make him truly alone, because she wanted him to know how it felt. _You and I are not all that different,_ _Foaly, _she mused. _In different circumstances, we could have ended up on the same path.__  
_

Her train of thought was interrupted by an annoying humming noise - this was the alarm persona. He was insufferable and reminded Opal a little too much of college Foaly, making her want to destroy it utterly and keep it at the same time.

"Yo, bro, we got incoming."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She grumbled in Foaly's lame voice, feeling the vocal cords vibrate in her throat. Foaly's voice never sounded this masculine from the _outside_.

"See for yourself, dude!"

_Click._

"Hello. Foaly?"

"Ah," Opal smiled. "Hey Holly! What's up?"

Holly's voice sounded strained. "Uh, Foaly. I got a call from Caballine today..."

Opal's smile widened. "Really? How is she doing?"

"How is she doing, you ask," came the indignant reply. "She fled the freakin' city, Foaly, what the hell did you even do to her?"

Opal allowed Foaly's voice to become a little sheepish. "It didn't work out, I guess. I don't know."

"You don't _know? _Buddy, you've been together for like two years. Why are you getting a divorce all of a sudden? She tells me you're cutting the sash."

Going for mock emotion, Opal forced her lips to straighten. "Sometimes relationships just don't work out. What do you want me to say? It's not like we were for life, and anyway, she keeps forcing all this hippy stuff on me. I don't like it. Besides, Jenna is way more in tone with my interests."

Holly gave a snort. "Who the heck is Jenna? You don't know anyone called Jenna."

"I do," Opal protested. "I met her at a party a few months ago."

"Foaly, you haven't been invited to a party since 1986."

"Look, it's none of your business," Opal snapped. Apparently she hadn't counted on Foaly being so lame...

"Damn right it is my business," Holly hollered back. "Caballine is my friend, in case you didn't notice. You are clearly hurting her so I'm gonna need a reason, or I'll come over and kick your pony butt."

"Silence! I mean, shut up. Don't you have something more important to be doing right now like worrying about Artemis? He's dying, you know," she said matter-of-factly. "His condition is only getting worse." This was true.

That one was definitely below the belt. Holly made a threatening noise, then took what seemed to be a deep, calming breath. "This isn't over, Foaly. We're gonna talk this out later."

A pause.

Then, "But that's not the only reason I called. I need you to look up some security plans for a particular house. I need the blueprints, alarm layout and foundation information as soon as you can get it, I'm emailing you the co-ordinates right now."

Opal examined one of Foalys' hooves, inspecting it for dirt. "What do you need that for?"

"Let's just say it's not legal, but it sure is quick," Holly grimaced back. "You have to print 'em out and give them to Mulch. He'll be stopping by tomorrow, they're for him."

"More illegal ventures for you then."

"Foaly, you are on _thin ice _right now so believe me, don't push it. Just do the job, okay?" A tired sigh.

"Whatever," Opal decided and closed the call with a click. She would of course do the job, because to stall would be pointless and only make Holly suspicious right now. She had to wait for the Caballine event to blow off, then she would strike again. And when Opal struck, it _hurt._

* * *

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